I’m very excited to share the eighteenth episode of the Woolful podcast. Today we get to meet and hear the journey of a fascinating weaver from the Pacific Northwest, Ashli Tyre.

Sponsor: This episode is sponsored by Portfiber, a wonderful shop in Portland, Maine, specializing in one of a kind, hand-dyed fiber and yarn. Casey has curated an incredible collection of spinning fiber including yak, Chiri, Alpaca, Polwarth and hand-dyed blends. You can visit Portfiber in person when in Portland Maine or shop online at portfiber.com

Fiber folk: I first came across Ashli’s work via Instagram awhile back when I was mesmerized by her weaving and one day my friend Kathy sent an email sharing a bit of Ashli’s special story, process and a photo she’d taken, thinking she’d be a beautiful addition to the podcast. I couldn’t agree more. Much of Ashli’s inspiration comes from a very special place, the Pacific Northwest and in particular, Mount Rainier. Her approach and dedication to process, from wool selection, to natural dyeing to spinning and weaving, is just incredible. You can find Ashli at ashlityre.wordpress.com and on Instagram @ashlidtyre.

Giveaway:The winner of last week’s giveaway, is Michelle Kirkland! You’ve won two skeins of White Gum Wool in Flax Lily! Congratulations!

The giveaway this week is sponsored by Serene Fiber Arts, and we’re giving away a weavers fiber pack, which includes a variety of handspun, bulky and aran mini skeins and a couple bumps of merino roving.

70 Comments

So very excited about this week’s podcast! I am fascinated by weaving but have yet to try it, mainly because I have operated for years under the false assumption that it required acres of space and storage for all the equipment and supplies. Thanks so much for keeping this lovely podcast running!

Your work is so beautiful Ashli! Yet more inspiration to give weaving a try. I love the stories behind your big rugs and it was also refreshing to hear that the creative process isn’t always a smooth and easy one for you. I too so much more enjoy the ‘doing’ part, the planning on what to do can be more stressful for me as well. Thanks for sharing your story.

Thanks so much for doing a podcast on weaving and expanding the topics on fiber. Taking it to the next level by talking about felting and even paper would be cool. I’m sure the papermakers could learn a lot of great stuff on natural dies from other fiber workers. But, exploring the Asian intersections between paper and yarn/cord arts would be awesome. Jeseung is the Korean art of basket weaving with paper cords and Joomchi is a way to felt paper. Looking forward to greater explorations of fiber possibilities with the podcast.

I feel like weaving is calling me. I knit and spin and would love to add the skill of weaving to my life. This episode was truly inspiring and I love the “in love with the process of making” mindset Ashli has.

Your podcasts made me smile so much today during my long computer work! really excited about this one since it includes weaving – I am hunting down a second hand loom to weave again so this is right on time 🙂

My fiber journey has recently taken me to weaving, so I was really excited to listen to this podcast. It’s so inspiring to hear Ashli’s weaving process from beginning to end. Someday I’d like to take a fiber-batical!

I am very impressed by Ashli’s dedication to her craft. I really enjoyed listening to her describe her method and process for weaving each piece. As a hiker, I absolutely loved hearing her stories about Rainier and how it influenced her designs. Thanks for another great podcast.

I look forward to hearing more about your ranch happenings. How awesome it must feel to be getting your first few animals, building structures, etc! Best of luck!

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode! Ashli’s weaving/fiber story was totally fascinating. I couldn’t wait to come to the website and see her natural fiber quilt depicting the night in the meadow with the owls. Stunning! Thanks for sharing your story, Ashli. 🙂

Thank you for another great podcast! I appreciated learning how much work Ashli puts into her weavings before even touching a loom. How inspiring to slow down and really follow whatever is speaking to you.

I just found your podcast, and I’m so glad I did. It’s nice to have such a soothing listen, and to hear folks talk about their process and inspiration. I’m a knitter who knows a wee bit of crochet, but I’m starting to research spinning and dyeing and weaving, because I love understanding the whole process and I want to fully know how the components come together. Thanks for sharing!

I visited a fibre studio in Granville Island, Vancouver, BC last December, and there was a tapestry loom set up, with stacked baskets all around filled with the most amazing varieties of yarn sorted by colour. I had never even considered weaving before that, but my interest has now been thoroughly piqued!

What beautiful weaving! I’ve been primarily a knitter for the past dozen years, but loved the weaving class I took in college ages ago. While I don’t have room for a large floor loom, I’ve been thinking that I need to find a way to bring some smaller scale version into my life.

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Man, I’d love to try weaving, but I just feel like I’m getting the hang of making good knit wear after a few years’ practice. Always another awesome hobby to add to the arsenal of skills…

I very much enjoyed Ashli’s story and getting to see some of her work. I’m a spinner as well and more recently a weaver on a floor loom, but know that I will do some work with tapestry at some point. I appreciated the comments on dyeing as that seems likely to be one of my next steps in my fiber journey.

Great show, and I was struck by the respect the artist so obviously has for the origins of her craft without feeling that she shouldn’t participate because it’s not her culture of origin. There was an Instagram discussion about cultural misappropriation because a recent knitting magazine included Native American color schemes and designs, and it just seemed odd to me–there is only respect, and continuity of tradition there, to me. We creatives imitate because we love and are inspired by those who come before us in the craft, and because our hands feel what our hearts know and our minds so often mess up: there is a language of beauty, and we all speak it.